Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special BehaviorsHabits: Males call during the day from the forest floor, or from perches up to 100 cm above the ground. They can be heard in dense rainforest but also in secondary vegetation, as long as dense and moist vegetation covers the ground. Specimens do not form choruses and are spaced throughout the forest, at positions independent from free water.

Calls: A loud and fast series of 7-20 melodious notes, emitted as a sudden burst. A typical sound heard during the day throughout rainforests in eastern Madagascar, for example around Andasibe and on Nosy Mangabe.

Trends and ThreatsIts forest habitat is declining due to subsistence agriculture, timber extraction, charcoal manufacture, and livestock grazing and expanding human settlements. It occurs in several protected areas throughout the eastern rainforest belt (Vences and Glaw 2008).

Possible reasons for amphibian decline

General habitat alteration and lossHabitat modification from deforestation, or logging related activitiesIntensified agriculture or grazingHabitat fragmentation

CommentsTaken with permission from Glaw and Vences (2007).

References

Glaw, F., and Vences, M. (2007). Field Guide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of Madagascar. Third Edition. Vences and Glaw Verlag, Köln.

Written by Miguel Vences and Frank Glaw (m.vences AT tu-bs.de), Assistant Professor and Curator of Vertebrates at the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics in the Zoological Museum at the University of AmsterdamFirst submitted 2000-11-27Edited by Henry Zhu (2009-05-06)